Conduit electric railway



(No Model.) 3 Sheets-Sheet 1.. -C. J. REED. GONDUIT ELECTRIC RAILWAY.

Patented June 26, 1894.

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C. J. REED. GONDUIT BLEGTMG RAILWAY.

No. 521,891. Patented June 26, 1894'.

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C. J. REED. CONDUIT BLEGTRIG RAILWAY.

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. Io known as conduit systems in which the pro- I used for conveying the current to propelling -zo or more trolleys may be located in alignment with each other in the slit of the conduit and i UNITED i' STAT-Es A I CHARLES REED, OF ORANGE, NEW JERSEY, ASSIGNOR, BY DIRECT AND MESNE ASSIGNMENTS, TO THE REED ELECTRIC COMPANY, OF PHILADEL- PHIA, PENNSYLVANIA.

/ CON DUITy ELECTRIC RAILWAY.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters'Patent No. 521,891, dated J une 26, 1894.

Application filed April 14, 1892.

To all whom it may'concerc.-

Be it known that I, CHARLES J. REED, a citizen of the United States, residingat Orange, inthe county of Essex and State of New J er- 5 sey, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Electric Railways, of-which the following is a specification.

My invention is directed particularly to improvements in that type of electric railways pelling current of electricity is taken from one or more conductors located in a conduit substantially on a level with or below the surface of the earth and in which trolleys are electric motors, one or more, carried by the moving car or vehicle, and it has for its objects tirst the arrangement of the current mains or conductors in such a way that two in such manner that they may be raised entirely out of it and manipulated at will. f Second to provide perfectly insulated current. z 5 mains in a conduit and to locate them in such way that they are subjected to a minimum current leakage effect. Third to simplify and cheapen the construction of this type of apparatus, and fourth to accomplish the sevgo eral results naturally attributable to the several parts ofthe entire system and structure of apparatus hereinafter describedthe novel. features of which` are particularly pointed out in the claims at the end of this specification.

In order that a full, clear and exact understanding of all the details of my invention may be had by those skilled in the art to which it most `nearly relates, reference is hereby had to the accompanying drawings 4o and the following description thereof.

Figure 1 of the aforesaid drawings represents a longitudinal sectional view of a slitted conduit such as is in well known use in electric railways, a tram car being shown in elevation in dotted lines and the electrical and mechanical appliances in connection therewith from the generator to the propel-v ling electric motors in diagrammatic view. Fig. 2 is a diagrammatic view of the operat- 5o ing electro-magnetic switches and circuit con- Serial No. 429,184. (No model.)

- like or equivalent parts, A represents a conduit having a narrow slit on its upper side on a level with the street as is usual in cable or analogous railways, and D, D', D2, D3, duc., a seriesof standards located in alignment with each other and secured to the bottom of the conduit. To the top of these standards are secured pairs of insulators I I I2 I3, dac., to which .insulators are attached the conducting mains or leads w w running to the generator or dynamo'E located at a generating station at any desired pointon the route. It will be noticed that the leads w and lwcross or overlap each other lalternately at their points of support which are at, equal distances apart and that they both lie in substantially the same vertical plane so that the upper or exposed trolley conductor is made up of a series of sections in alignment with each other located directly under the slit in the conduit and that these successive sections are insulated from each other by blocks F F F2 F3, &c., of insulating material supported by the standards D DD2 D2, dac.

'T T and T2 are trolley arms carrying conducting trolleyst t and t2 at their lower ends and pivoted dust or dirt removing brushes b b andb2, the trolley arms being preferably hollow and insulated on their outer surfaces in order to carry insulated conductors attached to their upper.Y ends, the lower or concealed ends of which are electrically connected with the trolleys it and t2. Beneath the bottom of the car is arranged in proper supports a sliding rack N, providedwith three sets of rack teeth m m and m2 on its upper face adapted to mesh respectively with the teeth of pinionsP P and P2. Each of the pinions is secured to a shaft G, and throughy c a spiral spring s (see Fig.4) with a loosely roo pivoted trolley arm T T or T2, said trolley arms being insulated as shown, from the shafting and their elastic or yielding springs s. At the opposite ends of the rack N and in the side edges thereof are cut additional teeth 'n and n into which are geared additional pinions P3 and P4L carried by operating shatting or rods i 0"' journaled in the dash board supports at the opposite ends of the palrand provided with hand operating wheels M M are electric motors carried by the car and geared to the axles thereof in the usual manner, the commutator brushes of said motors being connected in multiple, as shown, with conductors fw2 and 102 the connections on one side through the conductor w2 being made with operating switches II Il located at opposite ends of the car and those on the other i side through the conductor 102 with the op` erative portions of the electro-magnetic switches in the switch boxes S S and S2, the 3 function of which switches is to automatically reverse the connection of the trolleys as they move from contact with one wire to the opposite wire, 'L'. c. from -ito and -to The two conductors 2v2 and 104 are connected with the trolley arms T T and T2 through the pole-changing switches S S' and S2 illustratcd in detail in Fig. 2, in such manner that as the trolley arms T T and T2 advance 1 in the direction of the arrow (see Fig. 1) the direction of the current from the successive sections ot' the trolley conductors w w is always in `one direction through the motors,

thereby avoiding undue heating elfects and great loss ot' energy.

Referring now to Fig. 2 for a detailed description of the electro-magnetic pole-changing or switching apparatus which is duplicated in each of the switch boxes S S and S2,

turn connected to the motors M M in mul-` tiple are.

M8 is a switch-operating electro-magnet connected on `one side by a conductor 107 to the l fixed conductor 104 and on the opposite side l to a tixed electrical contacta'. The armature 1 lever a of the electro-magnet M2 carries oni its free end, but insulated therefrom, a movable contact point electrically connected through a branch conductor w with the iixed conductor 102. The rotary switch is provided l with the ratchet teeth T3 equal in number to the number oi conducting plates D4, and p is l a pivoted pawl carried by a pivoted operating lever L operatively connected with the core a ot' the electro-magnet or solenoid M3.

The operation of the entire apparatus illustratedin Figs. 1, 2, 3 and 4 is as follows: The car C (Fig. l) is supposed to be traveling in the direction of the arrow and the propelling current passing from the plus pole of the generator E bythe current main or lead w through the trolleys t and i2 carried by the trolley arms T and T2 and the current passing in multiple arc through the conductors 105 to the pole changing apparatus in the switch boxes S and S2, the contact brushes b4 in both of these boxes at this time being in positions correspending with the similar brush shown in the enlarged diagrammatic view in Fig. 2 so that the current passes through conductors w, the electro-magnets M2 of these two switch boxes, the contact brushes b", those contact plates D4 in both boxes which are connected to the inner contact rings corresponding to e2, thence still in multiple arc relation through conductors corresponding to wi to the bus wire 104,- thence through the front switch ll to conductor 102, thence through the motors M and M in multiple arc relation to the other bus wire to2, thence through a branch conductor in the switch box S corresponding to the conductor w3 to a conducting ring corresponding to the conducting ring e', thence through a contact brush b4 corresponding to the brush b4 seen in Fig. 2 but which in this instance in switch box S is resting at 4this time upon the next segmenti)4 either just in the rear of the segment corresponding to D2 upon which the brushes corresponding to b4 of the switch boxes S and S2 are now resting so that. the current continues through the brush b4 of that box to the conductor corresponding to 105, electro-magnet M2 by trolley arm T through its trolley t back by the return conductor tu' to the other pole of the dynamo. As the car advances the trolleys 2,17 and t successively pass over the insulating blocks F', F2 and F3, thereby momentarily rupturing the circuit through the electrdmagnets corresponding to M2 in each of the switch boxes S2, S and S in succession demagnetizing the electro-magnets in those boxes corresponding to the electromagnet M2 seen in Fig. 2 ci the drawings and permitting in this succession the closure of branch circuits in each of these switch boxes through electromagnets or solenoids corresponding to the electro-magnet or solenoid M3 in a branch cir cuit corresponding to the circuits tu" 107, Fig. 2. This momentary closure ot' the circuit advances the polc-changing switch one step thereby changing the relation of the conducting plates D4 and conducting rings e e2 to the brush b4 in such manner that when the trolley t2 passes onto the section of the trolley wire w between standards I and I2, the direction of the current will be maintained as before through the motors M and M', the only difference in the connections be' ing that there are now two negative trolleys t and t2 instead of two positive trolleysiand t2. The next trolley to actuate its pole-chang IOC ing switch in sequence will be the trolley t as it passes over the insulating block F2. Switch S in turn will reverse the current for that trolley soas to maintain its positive direction through the motor for the two -itrolleys which will then be on the -isection between the standards I2 and I3. It is apparent therefore that as the car advances the rotating pole changers in each of the switch boxes S S and S2 will instantaneously and in sequence act to maintain the direction of the current always the same through the motors and that sparking 'and heating will Vtherefore necessarily be avoided. On permanently interrupting the circuit at the switch H should the rotary pole changers all act on ystarting again the, only eifect would be to reverse the direction of the current through the motors until the next stop is made. By rotating either of the hand Wheels hor h in the proper direction the trolleys may be lifted entirely out of the conduit and by rotating either one or both in a reverse direction their pressure through the elastic or yielding springs .s on the trolley wires may be regulated. When it is desired to manipulate the c'ar from the other platform the circuit is opened at the switch H and closed at switch II. The necessaryloclring devices such as ratchet and pawl mechanism may be secured to the rods rr for locking them in any position.

f f and f2 are fusible plugs or cut-outs of n any preferred form designed to automatically ruptureI the circuit in the event of a short circuit occurring between any two of the trolle s.

yIn Fig. 5 I have shown a modified and much simpler form of apparatus in whichthe polechanging devices S S and S2 are in the nature of mechanical conducting switches'pivotally secured to a support N carried by the car and extending into the slit in the conduit A. These pivoted switches are connected to the motor M carried by the car by conductors sustained by the support N as shown. pp2 are mechanical stops or pins secured either to the side of the conduit or supported by the standards D D D2 D3, dac., and lying directly in the path of the opposite ends of the pivoted switch levers SS and S2. These pins are so arranged that as the car advances the switch levers S S and S2 are mechanically moved in opposite directions. In other words, these three switches S S and S2 are operated' mechanically by the pins p and-p2 as the trolleys t t and t2 pass the ends of the sections.

I do not limit myself to the specific apparatus herein described and shown for accomplishing the results sought as I believe it is broadly new with me to utilize two current mains in a slitted conduit in such manner that two or more trolleys may be used on sectional conductors located in alignment with the slit and in such manner that the trolleys may be lifted out of the conduit. Y

I am aware that it is not broadly new with me to arrange pairs of current mains in series `of overlapping sections and to providea current collecting device of three or more trolleys adapted to bridge said overlapping sections, in combination with current reversing devices carried by a moving vehicle adapted to maintain the direction of the current always the same through the propelling motor carried thereon, and I make no claim hereinafter broad enough to include such a structure.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim, and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States, is-

`1. A pair of electrical conductors crossing each other at stated intervalsand connected to the opposite poles of an electrical generator, in combination with a slitted conduit; the successive sections of the overlapping conductors lying in alignment with the slit of the conduit, substantially as described.

2. A pair of mains or leads located in a slitted conduit and overlapping each other at stated distances, the ends of the mains being connected to the opposite poles of an `electrical generator, one portion of the sections v made by the overlapping conductors being bare for trolley connections and the other portion covered with insulating material, substantially as described.

' 3. An electrical generator connected to a pair of mains or leads which overlap or cross each other at intervals, the overlapping portions being located in alignment with each other and directly beneath the slot of a surrounding slitted conduit. n

4:. A pair of mains or leads located in a slitted conduit and overlapping or crossing each other at intervals, in combination with three or more trolleys carried bya car and extendalignment with or beneath the slit and threev .izo

or more trolleys, one in advance of the other and extending into the slit and resting on said wires, substantially as described.

IIO

7. A conduit having a single slit, a pair of trolley wires located therein, three or more trolleys carried by a car and extending through the single sl/it and resting onthe trolley wires in alignment with each otherin the direction of the length of the slit and means for lifting the trolleys entirely out of the conduit, substantially as described.

8. Three or more trolley arms extending through a single slit in a conduit iuclosiug a pair of trolley wires, said trolley arms being located in alignment with each other in the direction of the length of the conduit, in combination With means for lifting said trolleys, all carried by a moving car, substantially as described.

Y 9. Three or more trolley arms located one behind the other and extending into a single slit in a conduit, in combination with means for lifting all the trolley arms at Will, substantially as described.

10. One or more trolley arms pivotally secured to acar and having each a pinion meshing with a sliding rack secured to the ear, in combination with one or more pinions provided With one or more hand controlling Wheels, substantially as described.

11. One or more trolley arms each secured to a yielding or elastic connection carried by 'with a pinion geared to a rack having longitudinal movement; a yielding connection between each trolley arm and its pinion in combination with hand actuating mechanism at each end of the car operatively connected with the rack.

CHARLES J. REED.

Vitnesses:

C. J. KINTNER, G. M. CHAMBERLAIN. 

